Mr. Boo

  • Stop Lights Archived
    10700 Unser Boulevard Northwest Albuquerque, New Mexico - Albuquerque
    Hi: I live near this intersection, and find myself regularly turning from Northbound Unser onto Westbound McMahon. The problem that I have is that during periods of high traffic volume, it is not possible to make it into the left-hand turn lane because the traffic is backed-up for the Northbound lanes on Unser. Specifically, the left lane is backed-up, which keeps anyone who needs to make a left-hand turn from doing so until the next round of green signals. So, even though there is a lot of space in the left turn lands on Unser, there are very few cars able to get to those lanes until all traffic starts moving. The same problem is also observable on Southbound Unser turning left onto Eastbound McMahon and on Eastbound McMahon turning left onto Northbound Unser. This problem is not evident on Westbound McMahon turning onto Southbound Unser.
    What I would like to see happen is for these stoplights to be programmed in a manner similar to the intersection of Ellison and Coors. At the Coors and Ellison intersection, Southbound Coors gets a green light at the same time as SB Coors onto Eastbound Ellison also gets a green light. This makes it easier for traffic that needs to make the turn to reach the turning lanes and pass through the intersection. The turn signal goes red as Northbound Coors receives a green light. After a few moments, SB Coors receives the red signal as the Northbound Coors to Eastbound Ellison turning lanes receive green lights.
    This approach to managing the traffic at Coors and Ellison acknowledges the large number of cars that need to turn as well as the limited turning space available. As a result, I find this to be one of the most efficiently programmed traffic signals in the city. By efficient, I mean that it is rare that I have to wait more than a single round of signals at this intersection before I can go where I need to go. And it works well in all four directions.
    I think if this traffic pattern could be adapted to use the procedure for the Coors approaches to Ellison on both the Unser and McMahon approaches, the system would be much more efficient at Unser and McMahon.
    I hope that you agree. Thank you for reading my suggestion.
    Sincerely,
    Brian
  • 1011 Indian School Rd Nw Albuquerque, New Mexico - Near N Valley
    I work at the address listed on the report. There are approximately 300 people working in these buildings owned by the All Pueblo Council and occupied by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. We frequently see problems at the stop light that we frequently use at 12th Street and Indian School Road.
    I have had two of my coworkers' vehicles hit here and my vehicle was very nearly struck as well. There are two problems:
    1. People driving on 12th Street constantly run this red light and do so at speeds above the limit. I do not know if it is a visual sighting problem with the lights or what the issue is, but the attached picture is far too common. They run this light in both the North and South directions. It would be nice for the City to improve the visibility of the lights here not just for drivers, but also for the numerous pedestrians that cross here. The pedestrian traffic has increased now that school is in session and the new McDonald's has opened. There will be even more pedestrians when the new Starbuck's is completed.
    2. The green signal for traffic on Indian School Road is far too short outside of school hours. I understand that it is nice to extend the timing to accommodate the extra traffic for parents and students going to the school, but the green signal has been shortened way too much after school hours when people working in the buildings at 1011 and 1111 Indian School Road start to leave work around 4:00-6:00 in the afternoon. We find that making a left turn from westbound Indian School onto southbound 12th Street toward the interstate is very difficult, and usually requires the people turning left to take chances to make the turn before the light turns red. This is caused by the right turners to southbound 12th Street being required to yield to oncoming traffic due to a generic green signal for making the left turn. As there is just enough traffic at the light going eastbound on Indian School and turning southbound on 12 Street, it is sometimes necessary to wait two or three signal cycles to make the turn. I am not exaggerating.
    It would be nice as part of any effort to improve this intersection to include green arrows for the turn lanes as well as extending the overall time the signal is green for traffic on Indian School.
    Thank you for considering my request.
    Sincerely,
    Brian
  • 11029 Gladiolas Pl Nw Albuquerque, New Mexico - Skies West
    Hi:
    My neighbors and I have been getting weed complaints from our HOA. This is not something controlled by the city, but it is related to the open spaces next to our homes. During the winter and spring, tumbleweeds blow across our lands depositing their seeds. Even as we remove the tumbleweeds that have blown into our yards fairly easily, the seeds germinate and sprout and grow continuously. The result this year with all of the rain is that we are having extreme difficulties in keeping up with the yard work because of all the seeds the tumbleweeds have deposited. I fear next year will be worse even if we have normal or less rain than we got this year because of all of the new tumbleweeds that have grown in the open space.
    I would like it if the city could remove all of the tumbleweeds from the open space near our homes as well as in the impounded area around the water tower behind us. It would be greatly appreciated and a tremendous help for us in maintaining our yards.
    Sincerely,
    Brian Bough